Omiai
by KimuraMinami
Summary: They say there is only one-in-a-million chance that you'll meet the right girl on a blind date. Luckily for Zoro, he met the wrong one. AU/ multi-chap/ZoNa
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

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For the most part, Roronoa Zoro was very happy with his life.

He had a decent job— some would argue that maintaining his father's swords collection and polishing them on a day-to-day basis could hardly count as one, but as long as he was fed and paid and got to pick his own dorm from countless bedrooms his old man's castle had to offer, Zoro never felt the need to complain.

He was surrounded by loving families. He had a wealthy father who had recently purchased an island for "wine-tasting" use, hereby he quoted; and a baby sister who constantly dressed as a Gothic Princess and talked to her own stuffed Teddy Bear. They were both perfectly sane people, despite what others might think or say.

He kept a careful selection of friends. A maximum of three, to be more specific. One could eat his own hand; another basically flirted with anything that had breasts; the third lived in constant fear and wetted his pants every time he stepped out of his own door. It was said to be an "I-can't-go-out-of-my-door-or-I-will-die" disease but it was never precisely diagnosed.

The above trivialities aside, Zoro's life was simple and routined. Every day he got up and went to work and headed home and went to bed. Until one day his father Dracula Mihawk handed him an A-4 sized leather-covered pamphlet that resembled some sort of photo album at the dinner table.

"You're meeting this girl tomorrow for dinner." Mihawk said in place of an appetizer.

"Huh?" Zoro looked at his father across from the long table, puzzled. The pamphlet had been served by the housekeeper in a silver platter and placed at where should have been his next dish. Zoro frowned in confusion. He remembered mentioning to the kitchen he had wanted beef.

"Her name is Nefeltari Vivi. Her father and I have been doing business for quite a few years. She's about your age, good-looking, educated and rich enough to be my daughter-in-law." Mihawk said in a flat voice. A beat, and then he added with a slightly raised brow:" you are not gay, are you?"

"Wh—what?! Of course I'm not!" He was simply having a hard time processing the load of information his father had just dumped on him.

"Good." Mihawk nodded briefly and turned to the other side of the table. "What's the date today, Perona?"

The pink-haired girl bit back a chuckle before she answered quietly, "It is April 19, father."

"Lovely. " Mihawk nodded again. "Then we have less than two months to prepare the wedding. I heard you girls nowadays dig the idea of June Brides. Is that so, Perona?"

"How should I know?" Perona protested. "I'm only 14!"

"No, dearie. 14 is your imaginary age. In reality you are 26." Mihawk said. "After Zoro's married, you will be the next."

"Wait I'm not getting m—"

"That's not true~!"Perona shrieked cutting Zoro off. Flustered she stood, nearly knocking off the chair behind her, "If I were 26, how come I go to school every day?"

"I bought that school for you, dearie. I bought your teachers. And your classmates. " Mihawk said calmly as he raised his wine glass in a graceful manner. After a slow sip he added. "We are rich; we can afford to be crazy. Now sit back down and eat your lobster."

"Ahhhh! I hate you! You're ruining my life!" ignoring her father's advice, the pink-haired girl stormed off after breaking her set of plates.

Zoro starred with wide eyes. Not that he was surprised. Not really. What had just happened was a common occurrence in this castle. Hell, they lived in a castle solely illuminated by candles. He would be surprised if people _weren't_ starting to get crazy.

Mihawk shook his head and let out a sigh, "It will cost me a fortune to find someone to marry her. You know, to cancel out the craziness. " Pleased with his own joke, he took another sip of the wine.

The corner of Zoro's eye twitched. "Uh…..can we talk about me for a second?"

"Of course." Mihawk managed to pull a face akin to a smile, not a good one though, but Zoro had seen worse. "How's work today, son?"

"…" maybe it was just him, but sometimes he really felt that he was the only sane one in the family. "I mean, we should probably talk about my…uh, dinner appointment tomorrow?"

"Oh yes. The dinner's at 7. At Baratie, window table. You will be chauffeured by a limo and escorted by 2 body guards."

"You are kidding me, right?" Now Zoro was beginning to feel the urge to smash some plates too. This was outrageous. "You can't just expect me to have dinner with some girl and decide right away if I want to spend the rest of my life with her!"

"I know. "Mihawk nodded in agreement. "That's why I'm deciding for you."

Zoro almost choked on his own saliva. "That's ridiculous! I don't want to get married yet, and I'm not going to—"

"Hear me out, kid." Something in Mihawk's low rumbling voice made Zoro stop mid-protest. Albeit his occasional craziness, Mihawk was an authoritive parent after all.

"Your mother and I had a marriage out of love. And that ended disastrously. I'm not asking you to look the other way, son; I'm just offering you an option. An option that might spare you the future heart break."

This wasn't right. He might know little about love and marriage and stuff but there was something really really wrong about his father's speech. Zoro couldn't pin it. His hand grabbed the side of the table as he looked at his old man in frustration.

"Don't just say no yet. At least go meet the girl. She's the whole package; I think you'll actually like her. "

The pleading undertone in Mihawk's voice stung him a little bit. In front of him was a lonely middle-aged man of wealth. He seemed to have owned everything he had ever wanted for life, and yet he couldn't fill the void in his heart.

Ridiculous as it might sound, he was protecting his children the only way he knew how.

Zoro suddenly felt very sorry for his father.

"And if I don't?" He eyed the older man suspiciously.

"Then I'll pay for her plastic surgery and we'll make you a new girl." Mihawk finished and stood to leave the table. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to beat up some mandrills I imported from West Africa, you know, it's supposed to be an after-meal exercise of some kind, as recommended by my shrink. "

Zoro could only stare at his retreating back in disbelief as Dracula Mihawk walked out of the door of the dining hall. Scrubbing a hand over his face, the green-haired young man sighed heavily before his other hand reached for the pamphlet on the table.

He flipped the cover open: A girl with long wavy blue hair smiled coyly at him. Just like his father said she had a pretty face and judged by the dress she was wearing in this photo he could tell she came from a wealthy family as well.

So…This was Nefeltari Vivi, his date tomorrow night. Zoro suddenly felt the need to undo his collar button as his inside tightened up screaming for air.

He felt suffocated.

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**Author's Note: **

**Omiai is a special term in Japanese that stands for "blind dates that most likely lead to arranged marriages." I could have used the title "Blind Date", but it'll weaken the "possible future arranged marriage" part.**

**If you happened to read my profile before, you would probably notice that I've had this idea for quite some time. Since I haven't found the inspiration to update my other fics, I decided to give this one a shot. Hopefully it'll help ease my writer's block. :P**

**There are some changes in age and occupations (like you can't tell) in this AU story, for obvious reasons. **

**Sorry Nami didn't make an appearance in this chapter. She mostly certainly will in later chapters. Tell me how do you think she will appear in a review. Thanks for reading. :)**

**Love,**

**Minami**


	2. Chapter 2

"Not again,Vivi."

Nefeltari Vivi observed timidly as her orange-haired friend buried her face in a pile of designer throw pillows and groaned in exasperation.

The blue-haired young lady knew full well she was the one with guilty conscience here, so she pleaded in an even softer tone:

"Please, Nami? Just help me out this one last time. I promise, after tonight I'll tell my dad everything!"

"Urgh." Nami rolled her brown eyes to the ceiling. The extravagant display of crystal chandeliers hanging over her head might have blinded her for a moment and inevitably contributed to the bite in her tone. " Maybe you should just tell him you and _I_ are dating, believe me he'd beg you to date someone like Koza after_ that_!"

Unlike other times, the orange-haired girl's witticism failed to lift her listener's mood.

"You know it's not gonna work, Nami. " Vivi said melancholily." My dad always wants me to marry someone from similar background and better, can help with the family business. But Koza...he's nothing like that. Dad will never approve."

"You can always elope." Nami offered raising an eyebrow.

"But..." Vivi bit on her bottom lip, her eyes watery as she pondered Nami's idea."but I've had my eyes on this Vera Wang dress...and I don't want to be one of those women whose engagement ring doesn't have a diamond on it. As...as for eloping, I guess Tahiti wouldn't be an entirely bad idea..."

Nami coughed sounding suspiciously like "Oh you and your rich people problems.". Standing up she smoothed a hand over her vibrant short hair and conceded with a sigh:"Alright, I'll take care of this one. Now lemme see the check."

"You will?" Vivi's face lit up with relief. "Awwww...thank you, Nami!You are such a good friend!"she stood with arms outstretched in an attempt to hug Nami but the latter dodged instantly.

"No I'm not." Nami iterated with her hands held up high in the air." You are paying me. That makes this a 100% business relationship and makes me a _non-friend_."

"Nami~~" Vivi whined. But Nami knew better. It wasn't Vivi's puppy dog look or her "great love story" with Koza that got her. The truth was that simple: she could use some extra money.

As cynical as it might sound, Nami didn't do "friends". She was a firm believer that money was her only friend but again it was never around when she needed it - so yeah, technically , she had no friends.

She couldn't remember when it started, but she and Vivi somehow got into this weird relationship that the blue-haired young lady would actually pay her to get rid of the unwanted blind dates Vivi's father had arranged. Nami wasn't proud of it; but she did such a great job the last few times that Vivi kept coming back needing more of her "services".

"The appointment is at 7. Don't be late." Vivi said handing over an A4-sized pamphlet along with her freshly-written check.

Nami took them, her thumb skimming over the cursive letters engraved on the leather cover:

_Roronoa Zoro_

The name didn't ring a bell. She knew nothing about the guy other than the fact that he was rich. She'd have to do some research before their meeting. She always did. With that fat check Vivi just wrote her Nami figured that professionalism was the least she could offer.

"So...how's Bellmere doing?" Vivi asked with concern as she walked Nami to the door.

"Still the same, as sick as Koza is broke." Nami managed to answer with feigned lightness in her voice.

"Nami..."Ignoring the sarcasm dripping from her tone Vivi continued,"I wanna help. You just let me know how-"

"You've helped plenty. See ya."

Vivi sighed as she watched Nami flea her lavishly-decorated living room as if being chased by ferocious monsters. Strange as it might sound, Nami was the closest thing she had to a friend. She confided in her and enjoyed her company, although the orange-haired girl often came off as snarky and cynical, Vivi found it refreshing and much to her liking.

So if a check from her father would help to make Nami's life easier, Vivi wouldn't even bat an eye. The first time she had offered, Nami had told her that she didn't care for "charity". The only way for her to take the money was that she gave something in return.

And she did. Vivi had no idea what Nami would usually do on these blind dates, but they all wanted nothing to do with her right after the first encounter. In short, Nami was an Omiai killer.

"I hope everything goes well tonight." Vivi whispered to the closed door, a subtle smile playing in the corner of her lips. She could already hear the sound of Roronoa Zoro running.

* * *

"You know what you need?"

Zoro looked up and saw his little sister leaning against his bedroom door with arms crossed, clad in lacy pink dress (as always), a cunning smile plastered on her pretty face.

"A rope to hang myself with?" He said dryly, not in the mood to humor her while he had an unwanted dinner appointment awaiting him.

Perona chuckled behind her hand:" No, an escape plan, you dummy."

Zoro rolled his eyes to the ceiling: " Thanks, genius. I think dad would know if I was a no-show. Besides, what'd ya think those body guards are there for?"

This time Perona laughed heartily, as if she just heard something remarkably stupid.

"I mean-"after a pause she stressed, "_after_ you meet the girl. Even dad wouldn't blame you if you received a phone call and there's something emergent for you to take care of that you would have no choice but to leave early."

Zoro pondered it for a moment. Actually, it was...quite feasible. Perona might be childish but she sure knew when to think like an adult.

"So you would call me, right?" He asked hopefully.

"No." Her smile didn't falter for a second.

"What?"

"I don't want to get on father's bad side. You are on your own."

"Then why did you even suggest that?!" Zoro barked.

"Just something for you to think about." Perona left the room with a string of laughter. Cursing under his breath, Zoro rubbed a hand across his face before grabbing his phone.

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" He texted Sanji first. He and the cook might not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but it was Sanji's restaurant he was going to tonight. He could count on the blonde man to interrupt his date at the right time...hopefully?

Sanji's reply came fast. "Already knew you are coming and poisoned your food. You are welcome."

So it was a No. Zoro cursed some more and forwarded the message to Luffy.

"#$%^&amp;(..." Luffy didn't keep him waiting for long either, but Zoro had to refrain himself from uttering more profanities as he read the text: The dumb kid butt-texted him again.

Okay, no big deal, at least he still got Usopp as a safety net. Zoro thought to himself before hitting the "fwd" button once more.

* * *

By the time he arrived Baratie, Zoro was starting to feel really good about his escape plan.

He would go in there and spend a decent 10 to 15 minutes with his date. Some small talks would be required but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Then before the entree came Usopp would call, saving him from wasting the whole night on a boring rich girl and very much likely, Sanji's food poisoning.

It was with moderate confidence that Zoro pushed the glass door open and stepped inside, two bulky men watching his back intently until the door closed behind him. Knowing his father, Zoro was willing to bet there was a secret third one standing guard at the fire escape - and possibly a fourth one in the man's room.

But since he'd already decided to play nice, he didn't even bother to let himself be bothered by that. His eyes searched for any blue-haired girl that resembled the one from the picture he saw last night.

However, to his bewilderment, he couldn't spot any.

Confused and mildly irritated, Zoro walked to the closest table and asked the guest there: "Excuse me, do you by any chance see a blue-"

"Sit." The guest gestured toward the empty seat opposite her, cutting him off.

"Huh?" Even more confused at this point, Zoro looked and found himself looking into a pair of captivating brown orbs.

"Hi, I'm Nefeltari Vivi." The orange-haired girl at the table greeted him with a saccharine smile.

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**Author's Note:**

**So...this is a long overdue update. :D**

**In this story a day has passed but in real life...wow, almost a year.**

**I'm so glad to see that people are still reading my stories and waiting for updates despite the fact that I haven't updated anything for a long long time. I might have gotten a little rusty, but I'm still here shipping and writing ZoNa. **

**Hope this chapter didn't disappoint. As always R&amp;R would be highly appreciated my friends~**

**Love,**

**Minami**


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